CellScale Blog
Welcome to our blog page! This is split into different series of stories. Check out the In the Lab series where we catch up with researchers using CellScale systems. Caleb's Corner is where our president pens his insights on the industry. Finally the Product Launch series introduces the latest in CellScale R&D. Enjoy browsing!
Active Pressure/Volume Control for Lung Research
Asthma, emphysema, COVID-19 and other diseases lead to changes in conducting pulmonary volume, viscoelasticity, and air flow distribution. To study these effects, Prof. Mona Eskandari at UC Riverside partnered with CellScale to design and build custom equipment....

Micro-Mechanical Testing for Cell Type Analysis
Tissue spheroids are a growing pre-clinical tool for drug development. Succeeding in this application will require quality, repeatability, and standardization. The MicroTester is perfectly suited for mechanical compression of tissue spheroids. In a recent paper Elena...

Adhering wet conducting polymers on diverse substrates
Dr. Xuanhe Zhao from MIT and his global team present an effective and strong solution to bond wet conducting polymers on diverse substrates. This adhesive layer can be applied on by spin-coating, spray-coating or dip-coating. Read on for more details of the fabrication and electrical and mechanical tests.

Fun with CellScale: Defining Al Dente
We put gluten-free pasta to the test and determined the stiffness of a pasta strand at different cook times. Curious on the results? Read on to find out!

Collections: Chung-Hao Lee
CellScale Collections: A compilation of publications from Dr. Chung-Hao Lee from the University of Oklahoma featuring the CellScale BioTester.

Tension Testing Tips and Tricks
Do you need to find out the mechanical properties of your biomaterial specimen but unsure of how to go about a test? With over 15 years of experience, CellScale can help! Here is a quick guide to tension testing of soft biomaterials provided by Caleb.

Aerogel Beads for Removal of Copper
Dr. Kam Chiu Tam and his team at the University of Waterloo proposes a solution for heavy metal pollution in wastewater. Their modified cellulose aerogel beads were shown to exhibit high copper absorption capacity and rate, high shape recovery and robust mechanical strength. Best of all, they could be regenerated and reused.

Fun with CellScale: Compressing Play-Doh
Fun with CellScale continues! Team Brunsting wanted to know what do you get when you combine working from home with a toddler and a UniVert compression set-up: a funny blog post!

Development of Scaffolds with Adjusted Stiffness
Dr. Andreas Nüssler and his team from Eberhard Karls University have developed scaffolds that mimic the rigidity of healthy and fibrotic liver tissue. Thereafter they studied the metabolic activity of liver cells on these scaffolds. Read more about how this research impacts the movement for drug testing in non-animal models.

Fun with CellScale: Toilet Paper Strength Analysis
The first of the Fun with CellScale series: testing household items with CellScale mechanical testing instruments! In this post, we uncover the relative strength of toilet paper.

Multiparametric Analysis of Tissue Spheroids
Dr. Elena Bulanova and her team at the Laboratory for Biotechnological Research 3D Bioprinting Solutions in Russia present their article on fabrication and analysis of tissue spheroids. Their design protocol applies to any cell line and aims to meet high quality standards such as consistent geometry, defined mechanical properties and viability.

Promoting Maturation of hiPSC-derived Cardiomyocytes with Re-entrant Waves
Dr. Li Liu and her team at the Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine present their breakthrough research to mature hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes in a self-organized tissue ring. By mimicking the physiology of adult cardiomyocytes, the team’s findings present a viable solution to drug screening and regenerative therapy applications.

A Wireless Smart Bandage with Miniaturized Needle Arrays
Dr. Ali Tamayol and his team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln developed a wearable device that can deliver agents to critical layers of the wound bed in a minimally invasive fashion. Read more about their solution to treat chronic wounds suffered by diabetic patients.

A Low-cost, Pilot-scale, Melt Processing System
Dr. Jon Pokorski and his team from the University of California at San Diego presents a solution to high-cost, bulky and high-material-consuming melt-processing system for academic laboratories. In his study, he demonstrates the dispersion of particles in melt processed polymers produced by their invention.

The Effect of Cyclic Stretch and Shear Stretch on Inflammation and Tissue Formation
Dr. Carlijn V.C. Bouten and her team at the Eindhoven University of Technology explored into the underlying mechanisms of premature graft failure by creating a human in vitro model of material-driven vascular regeneration. Read on to discover how cyclic stretch and shear stretch respectively affects inflammation and tissue formation.

Hyperelastic Characterization of Mesh for Abdominal Hernia Repair
Dr. Georgina Carbajal de la Torre and her team from Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolas de Hidalgo in Mexico shares with us her fascinating research into various synthetic mesh for abdominal wall hernia repair. By understanding the mechanical properties of these materials, surgical treatments of abdominal hernia can vastly improve thus reducing the hernia recurrence rate for patients.

New Testing Method for Viscoelasticity of Biomaterials
Ludovica Cacopardo from the University of Pisa under Associate Professor Arti Ahluwalia publishes this article on a new testing method for viscoelasticity through stress-rate measurements and load-control testing. Learn how the MechanoCulture TR played a major role in their discovery.

Optimization for Accelerated Corneal Crosslinking Procedure
Here is the first customer publication highlight featuring a commercial (non-academic) entity and their research with our equipment! Dr. Desmond Adler and his team from Avedro (now a Glaukos company) investigated on the optimization of oxygen dynamics, UV-A delivery, and drug formulation for Accelerated Epi-On Corneal Crosslinking.